Macroeconomics

Write an Economic Autobiography
Instructions
We are all the sum of our decisions; meaning who and where you are right now in life is the totality of all
the decisions you made up to this point. And not only your decisions, as a child and minor the decisions
of your parent(s) or guardian(s) also play a big role. The decisions of others like employers and the
government affect you on an individual level. And all these decisions can be influenced by the
surrounding macroeconomic conditions.
Think about several key decisions that really influenced who and where you are today. These can be
decisions you made or decisions others made for you –some examples could be:
you deciding to: go to college, buy a car, move out of your parents house, buy a house, enter the work
force, leave the work force, change careers, get married, to have children, etc…
your parents deciding to: have you!, move to a new house, open a new business, close a business,
change your school, get a divorce, have more kids, change careers, leave the work force, etc…
an employer deciding to: laying off workers, hire workers, close, etc…
government deciding to: use stabilizing policy, go to war, expand a program, cut funding to a program,
etc…
Then write an “economic autobiography” detailing how macroeconomic conditions shaped the
incentives involved in those decisions and how the decisions affected your life.
Requirements:
a) Graph / timeline identifying pivotal decisions in your life and overlaying relevant economic data
(see example at the end of this document)
b) 4 pages of text (typed double spaced / not including graph)
c) 4 outside /verifiable references (APA or MLA style) with in-text citations and a full works cited
section.
 These references must be 4 different, outside sources from verifiable sources; no blogs,
and no wikis. Your textbook does not count as one of your required citations.
Guided Assistance
To help you out I have laid out some steps you can take to think through your story. They are just
suggestions and you do not have to follow them with precision, but it may help you generate the right
questions to investigate.
Step 1
Plan the outline of your autobiography. Do this by writing down key decisions that impacted who and
where you are today (like the examples given in the instructions). Sometimes it helps to think about
Step 3
Research the ways in which the Federal Government and the Federal Reserve were involved in the
national economy, and any major economic issues facing the government around the times of the
pivotal decisions in your life. You can find this information by reading archives of Government and
Federal Reserve reports and reading archives of newspapers, magazines, or other publications.
(Students born outside the U.S. may have a hard time finding old government reports, but you should still
be able to read archives of newspapers or publications). Tip: See the suggested websites later in this
document for good research sources.
As you research, investigate questions like:
 Were there any significant fiscal policies being implemented?
 Were there any significant monetary policies being implemented?
 Were there any major trade policies being implemented?
 Were there significant policies being implemented what would impact long term economic
growth?
 Were there significant labor market policies that may have affected structural unemployment?
 Were there any significant institutional changes occurring at the time?
 Were there any national debt issues at the time?
 What macroeconomic school of thought were the policy makers at the time following
(Keynesian, Classical,…)?
Step 4
Research the economic situations that your family was facing around the times of the pivotal decisions
in your life. The situations may be positive or negative. You may have to acquire some of this
information by talking with family members and friends who were around at the time.
As you interview your family members and friends ask them questions like:
 Who was the primary income provider at the time and did he/she have a stable job?
 Was the primary income earner’s occupation cyclical or countercyclical?
 If the primary income provider was a business owner, was business profitable or unprofitable?
 Was household income adequate to cover all the family’s expenses at the time?
 Were household expenses stable or were they rising rapidly?
 Were there any emergency expenses that your family had to pay for at the time?
 Was the family housing arrangement adequate for the family at the time?
 Were there any particular money related issues that were putting significant stress on the
family?
 Were there any monetary windfalls enjoyed by your family at the time?
 What type of “safety net” did the family have to weather rough times?
Step 5
Think about how the economic environment described in parts 2-4 affected the pivotal decisions in your
life, the time in between those decisions, and present life position. To do this think about how parts 2,
3, and 4 relate to one another, and how the economic conditions that resulted created the experiences
that make up who you are today.
As you reflect on this ask yourself questions like:
 How did the economic environment affect the opportunities I had available to me?
 How did the economic environment affect the cost and benefits of my decisions?
 How did the economic environment affect my relationships with my family members and
friends?
 How did the economic environment shape my preferences (likes and dislikes)?
 How did the economic environment influence my core beliefs; for instance how I see myself,
how I see other people, how I see the world?
Step 6:
Put it all together and write your economic autobiography. First add the relevant economic data and
economic events to your timeline created in step 1 (see example at the end of this document). There
should be at least 1 data series overlaid on the timeline. Then write about how macroeconomic
conditions shaped the incentives involved in those decisions and how the decisions affected your life.
Remember the key thing here is the economics behind the story. While it may be interesting, just telling
me your life story will not be sufficient for this project. You have to explain how the economic
environment and the economic policies of the time impacted your life story. And remember I am
ultimately evaluating your knowledge of Macroeconomic principles so be sure to use the concepts,
theories, models, and vocabulary from class whenever possible.

Sample Solution

1. Present day Agricultural segment assumes an essential job in adding to the economy of the nation. Farming speaks to 13% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Rice is the principle staple nourishment in Sri Lanka. Paddy part contributes 16.5 % of the GDP of the agribusiness division. Paddy agriculturists speak to impressive level of the work power of the nation. Rice is the most established product on earth and rice is the principle shopper sustenance in Sri Lanka and the primary substitute for rice is the wheat flour. Sri Lanka has two noteworthy agrarian seasons in particular "Yala" and "Maha". About 5.75 lakh hectares were being purchased under paddy cultivating in the Maha season from October to February and another 3.5 lakh hectares under the Yala season from April to August. Sri Lanka is nation which Agricultural area assumes a principle job in the economy. Paddy is create in two seasons in a year. Each Government has distinguished the significance of the Paddy business and has been a political concentrate up until now. Mahaweli Project is the a standout amongst the most progressive venture done in the nation to build the land accessible for the paddy development. Anyway ranchers in provincial areas confronted numerous hardships to acquire satisfactory gather and income from paddy development and vegetable development because of absence of new innovation 2. There are three noteworthy financial exercises which add to the Gross National Product (GNP) in a nation, Namely Agriculture division, Industrial part and Service segment. Start of 1950s Sri Lankan economy was principally founded on agrarian division and by mid 1950, benefit area commitment surprisingly increments and kept up the most astounding commitment to the GNP at present. With the difference in political and security circumstance of the nation, it is basic to create agribusiness area to accomplish the self manageability of the nation. In 2008 recorded the most elevated sectoral development of 7.5 percent (%) over the development of 3.4 % recorded in 2007. Yield of household agribusiness items were expanded in 2008 mostly due the record expanding of paddy generation amid the year seasons. 3. Sri Lanka Rice Sector alone contributes 30'% to the rural GDP which represents 16.8% of GDP in year 2007.The present Annual estimation of the rice creation is Rs. 49 billion which is at an expanding pattern, in spite of the fact that the general commitment of the rice division to the GDP is decreasing. In 2008 paddy generation expanded by 24% recorded dimensions of 2.63 million metric huge amounts of rice. This recorded target was chronicled through tremendous troubles looked by the agriculturists in provincial territories. It is fundamental to actualize a viable government strategy and a proficient instrument to the improvement of the paddy segment in Sri Lankan in every territory to expand pay of the country agriculturists. GENERAL OUTLINE 4. Paddy is broadly developed in the all over Sri Lanka and it is a well known sustenance trim among all networks in nation. As the work and different prerequisites of paddy are high it gives guide work to a substantial number of individuals other than its commitment to circuitous work in info supplies and giving different administrations related the business. In any case, there are a few imperatives that influence the advancement of paddy trim in Sri Lanka. Among the most imperative limitations are, mind-boggling expense of the new innovation, low profitability of paddy land, and high illness predominance in paddy developing regions because of winning conductive condition for malady events Explanation OF THE PROBLEM 5. The announcement of issue can isolated in to two noteworthy parts: a. Social By and by at the nation the vast majority of ranchers are utilizing Traditional farming in Sri Lanka and it will impact for there work force pay without utilizing new innovation b. Financial Without utilizing new innovation for conventional horticulture in Sri Lanka won't empower to increment of creation in farming. Mal utilization of the cutting edge innovation caused low profitability in nearby agribusiness Extent OF THE STUDY 6 This exploration endeavors to distinguish the connection between the conventional agribusiness and present day horticulture in Sri Lanka and the quantity of ranchers who had relinquished the developing of paddy. The examination will concentrate just on the paddy ranchers in Sri Lanka and the advantages of utilizing new innovation in customary farming. Support 7. As it impacts to the national salary of the nation it is sensible to complete an examination on this point. 8. As it impact to the loosing of occupations in rural field it is an obligation of the administration to look in to this issue. 9. As the horticulture is the most seasoned customary occupation in Sri Lanka it is particularly expected to investigate on this field and it's out come. Goals General Objectives 10. The general goal, this examination is to contemplate increment generation by utilizing new innovation for customary agribusiness in Sri Lanka Explicit Objectives 11. The accompanying destinations are distinguished. a. To consider what is the customary horticulture in Sri Lanka. b. To ponder innovation utilized for customary farming and present day agribusiness in Sri Lanka. c. To analyze customary paddy cultivating development of paddy in Sri Lanka and its expansion uncommon creation. c. Agro – biodiversity and related customary frameworks. d. Proposals dependent on the discoveries. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 12. Utilization of new innovation will empower extraordinary increment of the creation of customary agribusiness in Sri Lanka Part 2 Approach 1. This examination will be founded on a review. The information will be assembled from essential and auxiliary sources to break down the circumstance and the information acquired from Agriculture office and other pertinent source Essential Source 2. A writing study will be done by alluding different kinds of articles, books and World Wide Web to assemble data on the field of the paddy development and information accumulated by farming office and other horticulture explore focuses Association OF THE PAPER 3. Since the primary thought of this investigation in to dissect that there is explicit connection between the reducing pattern of yield and the pattern of plenitude of paddy development in Sri Lanka, the paper examinations this relationship and its impact to the paddy cultivating. The primary section presents the subject and different subtle elements of the exploration. In the second part contains the History Methodology Organization of the paper Data gathering strategy Limitation. In the fifth section every single assembled datum are dissected and the last part contains discoveries, suggestions and end Examining 4. Chosen 10 paddy agriculturists arbitrarily to speak to all aspects of the nation who are presently occupied with the paddy development. Information COLLECTION METHOD 5. The wellspring of information accumulations is points of interest assembled from the Government Officials the individuals who are taking part in the development. Further, past measurements were gathered from the Hector Kobbekaduwa farming Research Center in Colombo, and the Public Library in Colombo Constraints 6. a. continuing with an exploration the accompanying impediments was recognized. b. The time accessible to complete this exploration was just 3 months. c. Usually the greater part of the agriculturists were not in the situation of giving precise figures with respect to their individual ranch the executives. Section 3 WHAT IS TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE IN SRI LANKA 1. Precipitation and its variety Sri Lanka is a tropical nation, yet atmosphere of the nation indicates variety over the Island because of contrasts in precipitation, rise and soil factors. Further, the focal slope masses, which go about as an orographic hindrance and the Indian Ocean, encompassing the Island likewise impact the atmosphere of Sri Lanka. 2. The precipitation of Sri Lanka indicates regular vacillations and is reliant on generally rainstorm, Four precipitation seasons are clear in Sri Lanka, specifically southwest storm from mid-May to September call Yala season, upper east rainstorm from December to February call Maha season and two between storm periods, the first and second between rainstorm last from March to mid May and from October to November individually. Add up to yearly precipitation of the nation differs from 750 to 5000 mm two wide climatic areas, to be specific the dry and wet zones are perceived dependent on aggregate yearly precipitation and appropriation of dry months. The precipitation is one of the critical variables for deciding agrarian land use and additionally utilization of different hereditary assets. The appropriation example of precipitation during the time is further vital than the aggregate yearly precipitation. The precipitation conveyance in the lion's share zones of Sri Lanka is uniquely occasional. Occasional circulation of precipitation and dispersion of wet and dry a long time in various climatic zones impact the kind of paddy developed by ranchers in various seasons. The bi-display example of precipitation appropriation is normal for the wet zone though the dry zone shows a uni-demonstrate precipitation design. The blustery period of the wet zone keeps going from May to November (7 months) which is a lot shorter in the dry zone (3-4 months; October to January). In the dry zone, southwest storm permits just a little harvest (Yala season) though the primary season (Maha) is adequately the wet season. Trimming designs, cultivating rehearses and hereditary asset use are extraordinarily extraordinary as indicated by this precipitation conveyance designs alongside alternate components. 3. Agro biological zones Agricultural land utilize and arrive the executives necessities at a given area rely upon the climatic conditions together with soil properties and conditions. The zones with comparable climatic and soil conditions are distinguished and differentiated as agro biological districts. Twenty-four agro environmental locales dependent on precipitation, height and soil types are outlined in Sri Lanka Agro biological characterization is exceptionally valuable since it gives fundamental climatic and edaphic contrasts of the nation for different farming creations>